Rotary internal-combustion engine



March 16 1926.

H. D. MORRISON ET AL ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 6,1920 3 Shets-Sheet 1 in ma .w .3 OIK Nwu r F 0/ u H Crllumc March 161926.

H. D. MORRISON ET AL ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed Dec. 611920a Shets-Sheet 5 Patented Mar. 16, 1926."

UNITED. STATES 1,577,141 PATENT OFFICE.

HUGE D. MORRISON AND FRANK B. WEBB, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

I ROTARY INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINE.

Application filed December 6, 1920. Serial No. 428,779.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HUGH D. Moniuson and FRANK B. WEBB, citizens of theUnited States, residing atR-ochester, in the county of Monroe and Stateof New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in RotaryInternal-Combustion Enform of engine.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the invention, partly in section, thesection being taken on .the line 2"2 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a vertical. longitudinal section, the section being taken onthe line 3"-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail view of the spider on the left hand .sideof Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the distributor, the view being taken onthe line 5 5 of Fig. 2, the shaft being shown in section.

Fig. 6. is a section thru the exhaust port, the section being taken onthe line 6"-6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a detail view of the lubricating channel and a back pressurevalve.

In the drawings, like reference numerals indicate like parts.

In the drawings, reference numeral 1 indicates the cylinder casinghaving the lugs 2 and 3 thereon, which rest on the bed or foundationthat supports the engine. In this casing turns a rotor 4, which isearned on a shaft 5 which revolves in bearings 6 and 7 carried'on thespiders 8 and 9, which are fastened by bolts or any other suitablemanner tothe ends of the cylinder. Fastened to the rotor are the endplates 10 and 11, which are circular in outline and make close contactwith the concentric races 14 and 15 in the cylinder. Bolted to themargin of the end plates 10 and 11 are the rings 12 and 13, which rotatetherewith and make close contact with the insides of the rings 16 and 17of the spiders. Between the end plates 10 and 11 and the cylinder 1 arealso provided floating packing rings 18 and 19,

which assist to keep the jointv tight between the rotor and the partsthat move therewith and the cylinder and spiders, which are stationary.

The rotor 4 is provided with a series of pockets 20, 20, which carry thepistons 21, 21. Each piston is made up of a series of three thin blades,the series of thin blades making better contact with the cylinder thanwould a single thick blade. Between the piston blades are locatedpockets; or by-passes, 22, which are concentric with the shaft 5, inwhich pockets are located the spark plugs 22*. At the bottom of Fig. 3is shown the intake port 23 and at the top of the figure is shown theexhaust port 24. The rotor 4 is cylindrical and is concentric with theraces 14 and 15 of the cylinder, while the inside of the cylinder iseccentric, forming the pockets 25 and 26, the pocket 25 communicatingwith the intake port and the pocket 26 communicating with the exhaust Asthe rotor revolves, the piston be fired and the increase in pressurewill drive the forward piston blade forward, the charge expanding in thepocket 26 until the blade reaches the exhaust port 24, where the exhaustwill takeplace.

To secure the explosion of the-charge at the proper point, we providethe spark plugs 22*, which are electrically connected to the contacts 27on the distributor 28. This distributor 28 revolves with the rotor. Withthe ends of the contacts 27, a stationary brush 29 makes contacts, whichbrush is held .on the segmental plate 30, supported on and insulatedfrom the spider 8. In the segmental plate 30, a segmental slot 31 isprovided, along which the brush 29 is ad justed by means of a bolt 32 sothat the brush 29 can be advanced or retarded by the length. of the.segmental slot 31. The brush 29' is electrically connected by theconductor 33 to the secondary terminal of the spark coil 34. The primaryside 35 of the spark coil is connect-ed to the hatery 36 and timer 37,which timer may be located on the shaft 5 so as to rotate therewith.Thru this mechanism, the primary circuit of the induction coil is madeand broken at the correct time to secure a spark in the spark plug forthe purpose of igniting the charge.

In the bearings 6 and 7 are provided roller bearings having the cones 38and 39. The male cones are clamped in place on the shaft by means of thenuts s'lO and 41 so as to hold the male cones in correct position withreference to the female cones in the bearings, thereby in turn holdingthe rotor properly positioned with reference to the cylinder.

The cylinder 1 is cored as indicated at 42, 43, 44 and 45, all of whichcores are connected together, the water entering the core at the inlet46 and passing out at the outlet 47. At intervals in the cores areprovided the bosses 48 and 49, which may be drilled and tapped to permitthe introduction of priming or permit fuel injection.

The rotor and piston are lubricated as follows;

On the endplate 11 is bolted an U-shaped ring 50, which at intervalscommunicates by ducts 51 with. the pockets which carry the pistonblades. The oil is poured from time to time into this ringandcentrifugal force carries it thru the ducts into the pockets and fromthere, it works its Way out along the piston blades to the walls of thecylinder. To prevent the oil from being forced back thru the ducts, byexplosion, each duct may be closed by a back pressure valve, such as isshown at 52 in Fig. 7.

The intake and exhaust ports are pro" vided by milling the cylinder witha series of diagonal slots in the ports, forming a grid. These slots areshown at 53 in Fig. 6. These slots are pitched diagonally to the path oftravel of the piston and the grid will support the pistons and hold themfirmly in place while traveling over the openings, both during theintake and the exhaust.

The piston blades 21 are as wide as the rotor and the pockets that carrythem, extend the full width of the rotor. The rims of the end plates 14and 15 are provided with annular flanges 54 and 55, which extendinwardly therefrom. These flanges are slotted as indicated in Fig. 2 toreceive the piston blades and form a guide and a seal therefor as theymove in and out, keeping contact with the inside of the cylinder.

WV e claim:

In a rotary engine, the combination of a hollow casing, a flangeprovided at each end of said casing on the outside thereof, a channelformed between said flanges and said casing, a ring mounted in each ofsaid channels and forming a second channel at a each end of saidcasing,a rotor mounted to rotate within said hollow casing, a pair ofparallel flanges provided at each end of said rotor, one of each of saidflanges being adapted to engage into said second channels formed in saidcasing and the, other of each of said pair of flanges on said rotorbeing adapted to make frictional contact with the outside of said ringcarried at eachend of said hollow casing, piston blades mounted to slidein said rotor, and shallow pockets formed in the periphery of said rotorbetween said piston blades, spark plugs rojecting through said rotorinto each of t e pockets formed in the periphery thereof, the outline ofthe inside of said hollow casing being such as to compress and confinean explosive charge in said shallow pockets in the rotation of saidrotor.

In testimony whereof we altix our signa' tures.

HUGH D. MORRISON. FRANK B. WEBB.

